Robbery

ARTICLES

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a man’s conviction and sentence Thursday for conspiracy to commit robbery, finding the denial of his motion to change venue and suppress evidence was not erroneous.

An Indiana man convicted of “Bonnie and Clyde-style” bank robberies lost his appeal before the 7th Circuit, which ruled Monday that the defendant’s rights weren’t violated when he was tracked from Indiana to California or when evidence of other robberies he wasn’t charged with were admitted at his trial.

A civil rights lawsuit filed by pardoned ex-prisoner Keith Cooper has been allowed to continue, with a federal judge ruling Tuesday that Cooper’s federal malicious prosecution and related claims are not time-barred. However, the judge also raised questions as to whether the relevant statute of limitations should be revised.

A man who murdered a woman in order to rob her of prescription drugs lost an appeal of his convictions when the Indiana Court of Appeals found there was sufficient evidence and that a trial court did not deprive him of a defense.

Although the Indiana Court of Appeals agreed the relationship had broken between a Fort Wayne criminal defense attorney and his client, it did not find that the 130-year sentence handed down would have been significantly less if defense counsel had offered mitigating circumstances.

A judge has denied a request for a new trial for an alleged getaway driver convicted in the 1980 shooting death of an off-duty northwestern Indiana police officer. James Hill was sentenced to 47 years in prison in October after a jury earlier convicted him of murder in perpetuation of robbery and attempted robbery, and Judge Salvador Vasquez determined there was no need for a new trial.